


you can write it on your arm

by montygreenn



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Character Death, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, Dr Death Defying!pete, Fluff and Smut, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Show Pony!brendon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-25 12:09:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10763979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/montygreenn/pseuds/montygreenn
Summary: "I miss berries." Frank announced, dangling his arm out the window."Smoothies." Gerard added. Frank sighed longingly. Freedom tasted sweeter than strawberries, though. Freedom was his friend singing along quietly to the Queen song on the radio, his red hair blowing and tangling in the wind from the rolled down window. The radio flickered in and out of range until it was more static than music, and Gerard kept singing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so i've never actually read the danger days comic or anything and all of my knowledge of this world comes from tumblr and google and shit so don't roast me if i got something wrong because i definitely did. anyways, i had a lot of fun writing this even though this ship is Dead because danger days is the coolest concept to write about and i Love it. also i didn't mean to make this like a cringey stereotypical fic with mcr panic and fob i just... brendon and pete happened to fit into the characterizations i wanted for this fic alright.

Frank's mouth tasted like dust. He had tried spitting three times in the past hour, but he didn't have any saliva to spare. His throat hurt, too, from yelling at Pencey, and the dusty air wasn't helping. 

They _said_ they were in it together. His old group. They lied. Nobody was in it together out here. He only trusted the lizards. 

"Cool stripe." he told a lizard breathing heavily on a rock. The lizard didn't respond. _Suit yourself_. 

The draculoids came around sunset. Frank blasted them to bits under the red and yellow sky, and was careful not to step on the lizard as he walked away. 

He didn't know where he was walking. He liked to believe his body was somehow leading him to water, but in reality he was trying to walk as far away from his old Pencey Prep base as possible, no matter where that led him. 

DI E . HOME STYLE COOKING. 

Frank snorted. That was encouraging. He knocked cautiously on the door to the diner, blaster in one hand. The guy who answered was also holding a blaster. 

"I don't want any trouble." Frank said immediately, removing his finger from the trigger. 

"Neither do I." the guy said, and Frank couldn't tell where he was looking through his dark sunglasses. 

"I just want water." Frank added, swirling his dry tongue around in his mouth. 

"We have some." the guy waved him into the diner, and Frank was almost disappointed with how easy that was. 

"Fun Ghoul." Frank introduced himself, holstering his gun. 

"Jet Star." the guy screwed open a tap and held a bottle under it, and Frank saw running water for the first time since BL/ind. 

"Holy shit." he commented loudly. Jet Star nodded. 

"Don't drink too fast- you'll make yourself sick." he advised him, handing him the full bottle. Frank couldn't hear him over the rush of water into his dry throat as he gulped down mouthful after mouthful of water out of the dirty bottle. 

"Are you alone?" Jet Star asked after Frank had finished the first bottle and was contentedly sipping on a second one. 

"Old team split up." Frank could hear the bitterness in his own voice. 

"I'll ask everyone if you can stay with us." Jet Star said, and it sounded more like a reluctant fact than a compassionate offer. They both knew it was either death, or a spot in this group. 

"Thank you." Frank thanked him anyway. More for the water than anything else. 

"Jet. Who's this." someone else entered the kitchen. Frank turned around slowly. A skinny guy with bleached hair was standing with a hand on his bony hip. He didn't look angry, just exhausted. 

"Fun Ghoul. I was about to ask Party if he can stay. Old group got ghosted." and it wasn't entirely accurate, but Frank let it slide. 

"You know Party won't say no." the skinny guy said. Jet Star shrugged. 

"I know. That's why I was going to ask him before I asked you." he said, and the skinny guy cracked a small smile. Frank hadn't seen a smile in so long he forgot if he was supposed to do something in return. High five, maybe? 

"Kobra Kid. Welcome to the Killjoys." the skinny guy tilted his head at Frank and he nodded back, still confused from the smile. 

"I'll get Party and the motorbaby." Jet left through the door Kobra came from, and Frank turned up a knob on the radio to listen to a fuzzy Nirvana song. After a few minutes of Kobra staring at him with an unreadable expression, Jet returned. The guy he was with had a shock of bright red hair pulled into a series of loose braids and pig tails. Not what Frank was expecting their fearless leader to look like at all. The little girl clinging to his back didn't help his image either.

"Hi." Frank raised his hand hesitantly, hoping he came off friendly and not bitter and lonely. The girl hopped off Party's back and waved enthusiastically back at him. 

"You have a bug on your neck." she pointed out. Frank rubbed his scorpion tattoo and tried to smile at her. It probably came off as more of a pained grimace. 

"When's the last time you ate." Party spoke for the first time. Frank realized it was directed at him. 

"A few days ago." he answered honestly. Party's face screwed up in sympathy. 

"Baby?" he crouched down next to the girl and she grabbed onto his hair, giggling. "could you run and get me a few cans of food?" he asked sweetly. She nodded vigorously and tore across the kitchen with tiny, uncoordinated kid-legs. She returned a few seconds later, clutching a can of Power Pup in each hand. Party popped them open with a knife and handed one to Frank. 

Frank would've eaten it with his hands if Kobra hadn't handed him a fork a second later. It was the best can of Power Pup he'd ever had. He didn't even care that Party was watching him the whole time, with the same intent, unreadable expression he got from Kobra. 

"Thanks." he managed to gasp out after swallowing the last forkful of food. Party offered him the other can and he took it, gratefully. 

"What's your name?" Party asked. 

"Fun Ghoul." Frank ate the beans slower this time, alternating with sips of water. He was beginning to feel less light- headed. 

"Party Poison." Party introduced himself. "You've already met Jet and my brother- and this is the motorbaby." Party ruffled the girl's hair. She looked up at him adoringly, playing with the straps on his boot. Frank didn't know Party and Kobra were brothers, but if he squinted he could make out similar features. 

"She yours?" Frank frowned, gesturing to the girl. 

"Nah." Party sighed, and Frank wanted to tell him he didn't mean biologically. He could tell the girl was Party's daughter, genes be damned. 

"You two planning on shutting up soon? The doctor is about to go live." Jet was seated on the counter, fiddling with the radio. Party lifted himself onto the top of a booth across from Frank and mimed zipping his lips at the girl. She did it back, curling up in the seat below him. 

A familiar voice crackled onto the radio. 

_Look alive, Sunshine! 109 in the sky but the pigs won't quit. You're here with me: Dr. Death Defying. I'll be your surgeon, your proctor, your helicopter- pumpin' out the slaughtermatic sounds to keep you alive. A system failure for the masses, antimatter for the master plan. Louder than God's revolver and twice as shiny. This one's for all of you rock'n'rollers. All you crash queens and motor babies. Listen up! The future is bulletproof, the aftermath is secondary. It's time to do it now and do it loud- killjoys, make some noise!_

The radio clicked, and an up- tempo rock song blasted through the speakers. The girl clapped her hands gleefully. 

"Did you hear that? Pete said my name! Because we're friends!" she kicked her little heels against the booth. Frank's mouth hung open. 

"Do you... _know_ Dr. Death Defying?" he asked to no one in particular. The room looked uncomfortable. Party whispered something to the girl that sounded like _I thought we told you not to use names around strangers._ Frank gaped. 

"The doctor is... a friend of ours." Kobra clarified. Frank's head was spinning. He never even thought of the doctor as a real person, much less a guy named Pete who had friends and gave a little girl a shoutout on live radio. 

The diner door banged open, and Frank's hand flew to his ray gun before he even turned to see the two people who had just entered. 

"What the fuck is up!!" 

Frank hadn't seen polka dots in so long he forgot the word for them for a second. The man wearing the polka dot leggings roller skated into the diner so fast Frank didn't have time to process the unnecessarily high singing voice he used to greet everyone. 

"Hiya, Pony." the girl jumped off her seat to high five the guy on roller skates. Frank noticed his ass. It was definitely trying to be noticed, so he didn't feel bad about it. 

"Does he ever take those fucking things off?" Kobra's question was directed to the other man who had just walked through the door, with dark hair and bright eyes. Frank liked that he wasn't as astronomically tall as everyone else he'd met so far. 

"In extenuating circumstances." the guy winked filthily, and Frank almost choked. That was Dr. Death Defying. The real, actual Dr. Death Defying was standing in front of him, winking and cracking jokes about fucking a guy in roller skates. He pinched himself to make sure this wasn't a really bad acid trip. 

"Who's this?" the doctor (Pete, Frank remembered) raised an eyebrow at him. 

"Fun Ghoul. Guess he's with us now." and Kobra managed to sound completely neutral as he said this. 

"Um." Frank cleared his throat. "Hello." he didn't know what else to say to the doctor. Pete. God, he was never going to get used to that. 

"I've been begging you guys to pick up someone shorter than me for ages." Pete smirked. Frank's mouth hung open. 

"We scoured the desert for days until we found someone shorter than you, Pete. You're welcome." Party grinned, revealing a mouth full of tiny, crooked teeth, and a stretch of thin pink lips. 

"Did you purposely find the cutest guy in the desert, too?" polka dot guy- Pony- purred from behind him. Frank made eye contact with him and he winked. Frank rolled his eyes and looked away. 

"Sorry about him." Pete groaned, shoving Pony away. Frank blinked. Pete's voice was still freaking him out. 

"Ghoul? Are you okay to fight?" Party asked. Frank knew it wasn't really a question, more of a formality. They both knew he'd say yes. He needed to prove his worth. 

"Fuck yeah." Frank hopped out of the booth, brushing past Pony as he went. He followed Party in silence, out of the kitchen and into a garage connected to the diner. 

"Wouldn't ask you to fight so soon after getting here- you seemed anxious to get out of there, though." Party said conversationally, clipping a grenade into his belt. Frank didn't realize how right he was until he said it. 

"It was a lot of new people." he admitted, and hated how pathetic the words sounded as they left his mouth. Party just nodded. 

"I can understand that. You must be exhausted, too. After this I can set you up with a place to sleep." he said. Frank didn't know what this meant. A mattress? A pillow? He'd be content with a quiet, dark corner, as long as it meant he could sleep with both eyes closed. 

"Thank you." he responded. He noticed a pile of magazines in one corner of the garage, a few skin mags and a substantial pile of comic books. 

"Ready?" Party asked. 

They worked well together in combat. Frank was reckless and wild with his gun, and Party had almost a 100% accuracy rate with his shots. They trashed the dracs in under an hour, and retreated back to the diner without a scratch. 

"Wasn't too bad." Frank commented, lifting up his shirt to wipe off the sweat from his forehead. Party shrugged. 

"Maybe we were just good." he said, grinning. Frank thought that smile could fucking melt the sun. He smiled back, a slight upturn of the corner of his mouth, and Party's grin grew wider.


	2. Chapter 2

Frank had been with the killjoys for a week, and he hated it. They were happy, and tight knit, and caring. He wanted so badly to let himself care for them and be cared for, but every time the girl would try and braid his hair, or Jet would tease him about his height, he was reminded of Pencey Prep, and how he thought he was happy there too, how he thought he could trust them. 

"So." Party said from behind Frank, where he was leaning on the car with a National Geographic magazine in his hands. "I trust you." 

"Okay." Frank said, not looking up from his magazine. 

"Give me a tattoo." Party said. Frank looked up, suddenly interested. 

"Oh, fuck yeah." he said, pumping his fist. Party grinned gleefully. 

"I drew something for you to go off of-" he shoved a notebook into Frank's hands, pushing the magazine aside. Frank studied it. It was a simple, clean sketch of a battery. 

"I can do this." Frank said, running his finger over the drawing. Party's eyes lit up. 

"Yeah?" 

"'Course. I just need ink and a needle, and a lighter for sterilization." Frank listed. Party shook his head. 

"We have a tattoo gun." he said. Frank started. 

"You have a tattoo gun but you don't have shampoo." Frank said, shocked. 

"Right." Party looked like he didn't know what the problem was. Frank shook his head, chuckling a little bit. It still felt weird to laugh. 

"Alright, well- you wanna do this now, or what?" he asked after Party handed him the tattoo gun. Party's eyes widened, and Frank saw fear flash through them. 

"Uh... now?" 

"Why not?" 

"Right, okay." Party scooted nervously onto the car. Frank thought about how he didn't even know Party's real name, but he was being trusted with the guy's skin after knowing him for a week. 

"Right here." Party pushed up his sleeve and pointed to the middle of his wrist. Frank noticed long, white scars as he drew the battery in pen on his skin. He didn't ask. They all had scars. 

"How does that look?" Frank stood back and let Party examine the sketch.

"I love it." Party exhaled. Frank dropped the notebook on the table, resisting the urge to flip through it. He knew from the graffiti around the garage and diner that Party was an amazing artist. Maybe not as good as the motorbaby and her little drawings of ghosts that she would drop into Frank's pockets, but he was still good. 

"It's gonna hurt." Frank warned him. Party clenched his teeth. 

"I know." he said, rolling up his sleeve farther. Frank held his hand as steady as possible and switched on the gun, enjoying the buzz under his fingers. 

He didn't learn until halfway through the tattoo that Party had a phobia of needles. 

"Well, I can't stop now, Party." Frank ran a hand through his hair. 

"Yeah, I just- I need a break." Party said, eyeing the gun. Frank set it down, and Party seemed to visibly relax. Frank found it ridiculous that he was scared of _needles_ , out of everything that was out there and everything they'd seen. 

Party pulled a box of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit two, passing one to Frank. He took a grateful breath of smoke and blew it in the general direction of the window. Jet didn't like when they smoked inside. 

"Alright. Ink me up." Party said decisively, fingers fluttering over his half- finished tattoo. Frank got to finishing before he could change his mind again. 

The sun was setting when Frank finished the tattoo, and the garage was glowing orange and smelled like cigarettes. 

"I can't believe I fuckin' did that." Party said, in awe. Frank snorted. 

"Technically _I_ did it, but okay." he said. Party flicked ash at him. 

"You're not the one with trypanophobia." 

"The fuck is that." 

"Fear of needles." Party smashed his burnt out- cigarette on the ground and threw it out the window. 

"Pussy." Frank teased. Party stuck his tongue out. 

"Punk." he shot back. Not even a real insult. 

"We should head back inside. I swear Kobra is putting out a missing person's report as we speak." Frank said. 

"Wouldn't want to miss dinner." Party said dryly. 

Dinner was half a can of power pup and another cigarette. Frank thought about how much he missed vegetables. Party scribbled furiously in his notebook and wouldn't let anyone see except the motorbaby.

"What's he drawing in there, kid?" Frank whispered to her. She giggled, pushing him away. 

"Can't tell you." she sang. Party flashed her an approving thumbs up. 

"He doesn't even let _me_ see all his art." Kobra said, sounding more than a little offended. 

"I swear he's just drawing weird fucking tentacle porn or something." Pete piped up. Jet covered the girl's ears. 

"I'm not drawing porn." Party insisted, brushing eraser bits onto Pete's lap. Pete and Show Pony ate dinner with them most nights. Show Pony turned out to be as hyperactive and genuinely kind as he was flamboyant, and the flirting was all a show. Hence the name Show Pony, Frank assumed. 

Party shut his notebook firmly and stuffed it under his shirt like a petulant child. Frank found it unbearably endearing. Party's brand new tattoo peeked out from under his sleeve, and Frank wasn't the only one who noticed. 

"Gerard, what the _fuck_." Kobra crossed the diner and yanked his sleeve up. Frank looked wildly around the room. _Did he just hear Party's real name for the first time._

"Oh, yeah," Party (Gerard?!) said casually, raising his arm and showing his wrist to everyone. "Ghoul gave me a tattoo." he grinned proudly. Kobra glared at Frank. 

"He's scared of needles," he said. 

"Maybe this was my revenge for Party drawing fucking spiders everywhere," Frank shot back. Gerard smirked. 

"I knew you were afraid of spiders," he said triumphantly. 

Later, when Frank was almost asleep, he was awakened by his red-haired friend's dog food breath on his face. 

"Wha- Party, what the fuck." Frank mumbled grumpily. Gerard was sitting cross legged on the floor next to him. 

"You heard my name, didn't you." he said. Frank lifted himself onto his elbows. 

"Yeah." he admitted. 

"You have to tell me yours now." Gerard insisted. 

"Frank." Frank said without hesitation. 

"Frank." Gerard repeated. "That's a good name." 

"Thank you?" Frank said. 

"Thanks for tattooing me." Gerard said, thumbing over his wrist. Frank glanced proudly at his ink job. Not bad. 

"What's it mean. The battery." Frank asked. He had been dying to talk about the significance of Gerard's tattoo all goddamn day. 

"Where I am. Where I've been. Where I sure as hell don't want to return. A reminder to keep going. Take your pick." Gerard shrugged. 

"Sweet." Frank said. 

"Tell me about yours." Gerard extended a finger to poke at one of the letters on Frank's knuckle. Gerard started falling asleep halfway through Frank's long-winded explanation of the tattoo on his hand, and Frank threw his jacket over him when his friend quite literally _fell_ asleep. He was surprised he didn't wake up when his head hit the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

"How the fuck did you get weed." Frank ran a hand through his hair. Pony shrugged mysteriously. 

"I have a guy." he said, passing out joints. Pete smirked. 

"He's fucking the weed dealer." he said, lighting up. Pony sighed. 

"I wish." he said dramatically. Frank grinned. 

"A beautiful and timeless romance." he said, inhaling deeply. 

"He's fucking gorgeous." Pony insisted, leaning over to light Kobra's joint. 

"He looks like a fucking twig. I swear he's skinnier than Kobra." Pete said. Kobra flipped him off with his free hand. 

"A goddamn gorgeous twig." Pony clarified. 

"I don't care if he looks like a goddamn zombie, this pot is fucking incredible." Frank said. He hadn't gotten high in so long he knew he'd love even the shittiest strain, but he was still grateful. 

"Party and Jet are missing out." Pete whistled, tilting back his head and laughing. 

"I saved them both joints because I'm a good fucking person." Pony said. Pete flashed him a bright smile. 

"Pony?" 

"Yes?" 

"You should fuck the weed dealer so we can get this for free." he said sweetly. Pony squinted at him. 

"We already get it for free, idiot. Weed fucking grows on trees in the desert." 

"Now hold on. I thought it grew from the ground." Frank said, giggling to himself. Kobra groaned. 

"I'm not high enough for that to be funny." he said. 

By the time Jet and Gerard got back from fighting dracs with the girl, Kobra and Pete were curled up together, snoring lightly, and Pony was proving to be really fun to talk to when he was high. 

"My real name's Brendon." 

"Cool. I'm Frank." Frank smiled at him. 

Gerard and Jet stood over them, holding up hands to block the sun. The girl was wearing Kobra's sunglasses, and they kept slipping off her face. 

"Did you kill Kobra and Pete?" Gerard asked, not sounding too concerned. Brendon nodded solemnly. 

"Finally got sick of their fucking sexual tension." he said. Frank burst out laughing. 

"This guy is funny." he told them, pointing at Brendon. Brendon crossed his arms proudly. 

"Whatever. I hope you saved weed for me'n Jet." Gerard said mildly, holding out a hand to help Frank to his feet. He stumbled a little in the sand and steadied himself on Gerard's jacket. Gerard pulled him closer and ruffled his hair before pushing him away, towards the door of the diner. 

"I need some... some fuckin' food." Frank grumbled, throwing open their pantry and rifling through the cans of food as if he'd find something different. 

"My brother keeps a bag of butterscotch candies in the loose floorboard." Gerard said, flopping down at a booth and setting his gun down. Frank wrestled the bag out of the floor and unwrapped a piece. The sweet caramel soothed his dry throat and he swirled it around in his mouth, trying to get as much flavor as possible out of the small candy. He didn't realize how loudly he was moaning until he noticed Gerard looking at him weirdly. 

"You sound like you're fucking climaxing." he said. Frank almost choked on the butterscotch. 

"Maybe I am." he winked sloppily. Gerard snorted. 

"We should make sure everyone actually makes it inside tonight." he said, heading back outside. Frank followed him, still focused on the candy. 

Jet and the girl had joined Kobra and Pete in a big puppy pile in the sand, and Brendon was sitting next to them, sweeping sand and dirt into a small mountain with his hands. 

"Okay, that's just fucking adorable." Frank said, leaning into Gerard. 

"They can't sleep out here." Gerard frowned. 

"We'll watch them." Frank argued. He didn't want to disturb the little pile of snoring killjoys. Gerard sighed, and Frank knew he'd already given in. They sat down next to Brendon, and Frank fell asleep with his head on Gerard's shoulder. 

The next morning, there was a drawing stuck to the wall of the diner. It was a comic book- style picture of the seven of them sleeping in the sand. Frank was positive he saw Kobra tear up when he passed it on his way to the kitchen.

"Are you coming with me to zone 5 today?" Gerard threw Frank a bottle of water, which Frank gratefully accepted.

"Sure." he said. "Nice drawing, by the way." 

Gerard's cheeks turned pink, and Frank was delighted that Party Poison, the fearless leader of the killjoys, was blushing because someone complimented his art. 

"You fell asleep and I had nothing to do." Gerard said defensively. Frank grinned. 

"I really like it, Party." 

"Whatever." he turned away, still blushing. "Are you ready or not?" 

"Yep!" Frank said cheerfully, grabbing the girl as she skipped by and kissing her on the top of her head. She wriggled free and ran to give Gerard a surprise hug from behind. He scooped her up and spun her around a little before following Frank into the garage. 

"Pete should be on right now." Frank turned on the radio when he got into the passenger seat. Sure enough, Dr. Death Defying's now incredibly familiar voice filled the car.

" _...and stay shiny out there, zone rats. Don't let the sun melt your fight. Here's The Runaways._ " 

Gerard drove like he was being chased, and never in a straight line. He didn't like running over cactuses, and zig zagged carefully around them despite Frank's groans. Frank could tell they were getting close to zone 5 when the greenery seemed to double and they passed small groups of kids playing with (he hoped fake) blasters. 

"Alright," Gerard hopped out of the car, securing his gun on his leg, "let's get some fuckin' fruit." 

Frank had never been more excited for a shopping trip in his life. They passed vendors selling first aid materials, blankets, alcohol, weapons, and oil before they got to the food. Power pup was so cheap it was practically free, and everything else was astronomically expensive. Frank knew it was hard to grow produce in the desert, but he wasn't too happy about paying seventy carbons for two bruised apples. 

"Fucking ridiculous." Gerard muttered, glaring at the prices. The vendor snorted. 

"I know. Party Poison, right?" he said. Gerard frowned. 

"That's me." he said warily. 

"I know your friend Show Pony. He's told me all about you guys. Maybe I can cut you some kind of deal." the vendor said. Frank snapped his fingers.

"You're the weed dealer!" he exclaimed. The vendor grinned. 

"That's under the counter, if you want some. Hell of a lot cheaper than fruit, too." the sun reflected off his sunglasses and Frank was momentarily blinded. 

"How many apples could we get for twenty?" Gerard dropped the carbons on the counter. The vendor pulled out two full bags of apples. 

"This is all I can give you without going out of business. Share with Pony." he said. Frank's heart jumped. Sometimes he forgot strangers could be generous. Helpful. They were all just trying to survive. 

"Shit, thanks." Gerard looked delighted. "The motorbaby is gonna flip." he grinned wildly. Frank promised to say hi to Brendon for the vendor and helped Gerard carry the apples back out to the car. 

"I miss berries." Frank announced, dangling his arm out the window. 

"Smoothies." Gerard added. Frank sighed longingly. Freedom tasted sweeter than strawberries, though. Freedom was his friend singing along quietly to the Queen song on the radio, his red hair blowing and tangling in the wind from the rolled down window. The radio flickered in and out of range until it was more static than music, and Gerard kept singing. 

"Didn't know you could sing." Frank said. Gerard stopped. 

"Neither did I." he said, laughing. Frank turned off the static. 

"Keep going." he insisted. 

_"There goes my baby, she knows how to rock n roll. She drives me crazy. She gives me hot and cold fever then she leaves me in a cool cool sweat. I gotta be cool relax, get hip. Get on my tracks, take a seat back, hitch hike. And take a long ride on my motorbike until I'm ready. Crazy little thing called love."_ Gerard punctuated some of the syllables with finger taps on the steering wheel, and Frank realized Queen was overrated because there's no way Freddie Mercury ever had eyelashes that reached the sky or a mouth as pretty as the sounds coming out of it. 

They were almost back to the diner when they had to stop because a group of zone runners were about to be slaughtered by an unusually large pack of draculoids. Frank pulled on his mask and they wiped out the pack with help from the grateful zone runners, all but one. It shot the window of the car, shattering the window, before Gerard's gun splattered it on the sand. 

"Party." Frank wheezed, dropping to his knees. He hadn't been shot. He was standing next to the window when it was shot, and a piece of glass lodged itself in his back. 

"Ghoul?" Gerard's face was fading out of focus, and Frank felt blood soaking the back of his shirt. Gerard helped him into the car, and Frank almost wanted to warn him that he was getting blood on the seats, but his tongue was thick and heavy, so he didn't. He tried to focus on the pain, because at least it kept him awake. 

"Stay awake, okay Ghoul? Okay, Frank? It's just a little longer until we're back. I'll patch you right up. Stay with me, Frankie, just listen to my voice and hang on to it, you've got it. Just a little glass, right? Glass is just sand..."


	4. Chapter 4

Frank had been out of commission for three days. Jet wouldn't even let him sit up if it wasn't to take a piss or eat, and Frank was going a little crazy. 

"Party says you could have died." The girl said conversationally, scribbling on the floor next to Frank with crayon nubs. 

"Nah." Frank scoffed. "Party just likes to make shi- _stuff_ sound more dramatic than it actually was." he told her. The girl nodded, satisfied. 

"That's why I don't believe him when he tells me he eats bugs." she said. Frank chuckled. 

"Actually, he does. I've seen him." he teased. The girl wrinkled her nose. 

"That's _gross_." she said in a hushed voice. 

"I watched him eat a dead lizard on a dare." Jet piped up from his seat at one of the booths. The girl's eyes widened further. She finished her scribbling and held it up for Jet and Frank to see. She had taken Gerard's drawing off the wall and written 'My Family' as neatly as she possibly could in purple crayon. Jet put his sunglasses on, and Frank knew he was crying. 

"That's sweet, kid." Frank said, voice full of emotion, and swept her into an awkward half- hug, the best he could manage without straining his back. 

She smiled her crooked, messy toddler smile, and any reservations Frank still had left from his past group melted into a gooey puddle on the floor. He loved and trusted this group with all his heart, even the weirdo in the roller skates. _Especially_ the weirdo in roller skates. 

"I like what you did with my sketch, Baby." Gerard walked in from outside, beaming at her. She handed it to him, and he stuck it back up on the wall. 

"Kobra needs your help in the garage, kid." he told her. She scurried off, followed closely by Jet, who still had his sunglasses secured firmly on his face. Gerard turned to Frank. 

"I have to check your bandages." he said apologetically. Frank winced. 

"Go for it." he said, trying to sound casual. Gerard's sympathetic look let him know his voice gave him away. 

"Can you sit up all the way?" Gerard asked gently, kneeling next to him. Frank gingerly pushed himself onto his hands, cursing as he went. Gerard held his arm steady. 

"Alright, Frankie?" he asked. Frank bit his lip and nodded. He felt warm fingers against his bare back as Gerard peeled off the day-old bandage to look at his wound. The air stung his skin, and Frank had to dig his nails into his palm to keep from gasping. 

"Good news, Ghoul," Gerard said cheerfully, "it's not infected! You're healing perfectly." 

"Oh, wow... that is good news." Frank was relieved. First aid equipment was expensive, and he didn't want his friends spending all their currency on shit to heal him. 

"You're going to have a massive fucking scar, though." Gerard laughed. Frank shrugged. 

"Scars are cool." 

"Yeah," Gerard nodded vigorously, "It’s like- proof you survived something you weren't supposed to." 

"Right." Frank agreed, eyes flickering to Gerard's wrist. Gerard looked down. 

"They're from last summer. I was having really horrible nightmares, and pretty much living off rubbing alcohol, and basically tried to bleed myself out with a broken piece of a bottle. My brother helped, though, and then we found the girl and- I healed." he finished, looking at his lap. Frank slipped a hand into Gerard's hesitantly. 

"My old team," he began, figuring now was a good a time as any to spill his guts, "Pencey Prep, we called ourselves- they didn't die, or kick me out. I left for a reason." he took a deep breath, making sure Gerard was still listening. He was. 

"They turned. Gave themselves over to BL/ind. Fucking tried to turn me in, too, but I got out through the back while they were being taken out. Even my partner, the person I trusted with my life, she-" Frank's voice broke, and Gerard tightened his grip on Frank's hand. 

"You're here now." he said softly. Frank nodded. 

"I'm fucking lucky I found this place." he was very aware of Gerard's knee pressing into his leg. 

"Pretty sure I'm the one who lucked out." Gerard corrected him lightly, bumping his shoulder. Frank blushed and turned away. His stomach was fluttering, and he knew for sure now that his feelings towards Gerard were more than a mixture of friendly admiration and aesthetic attraction.

"Yeah, real lucky you found a guy who gets taken out by a fuckin' window." Frank joked, trying to lighten the mood. Gerard laughed, involuntarily shifting his fingers against Frank's bare shoulder. Electricity coursed through his arm like his veins were wires and Gerard was a generator. 

"I have to bandage you up again, okay? Hold still." Gerard moved to sit behind Frank and Frank heard the sound of gauze ripping and Gerard's fingers were back on his skin, pressing medical tape firmly around the bandage. 

"How gross does it look?" Frank asked, craning his neck to try and see his back. He couldn't. 

"I've seen worse." Gerard said, and his fingers hadn't left Frank's back. They were straying farther now, away from his wound and over his spine, tracing swirls and lines on his skin.

"You have so much more ink than I thought." he said quietly, pulling away. Frank shivered. 

"Like you said," he grinned, trying to pretend like Gerard’s touch _wasn’t_ setting his skin on fire, "I'm not the one with trypanophobia."

He had dreams that night of Gerard's hands following every mark and color on his skin, and woke up feeling empty with the absence of his touch


	5. Chapter 5

Brendon threw open the door of the diner as dramatically as he possibly could, his roller skates propelling him through the doorway. 

"Mad Hatter is coming." he announced, practically singing. Frank frowned. The words sounded ominous as fuck, but Brendon's voice was so happy it couldn't be anything bad. He exchanged confused looks with Ray (he told Frank his real name a few days ago), who was sitting on the floor and sewing a new shirt for the girl. 

"What the hell is the Mad Hatter?" Frank asked, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. His glass cut from almost a week ago was speeding through the healing process rather expertly, but it still hurt to wear a shirt over it. 

Brendon sighed. "The weed dealer." he clarified. Frank clapped his hands together. 

"Weed dealer! I love that guy." he said. 

"Tell him to bring more weed." Ray added, uninterested. Frank pointed at him. 

"Yes. More weed. Good thinking, Jet."

A little while later, Gerard and the girl returned from their day trip to the really cool rock in zone 2 and joined Ray and Frank in listening to Brendon ramble on about Mad Hatter the weed dealer. The girl got bored and asked if she could wear Brendon's roller skates, which he reluctantly gave up after some pointed stares from Ray and Gerard. 

"Where the fuck are Mikey and Pete, anyway?" Gerard asked, glancing around the diner. Brendon shrugged. 

"Pete said he was going to get oil. Didn't mention anything about taking Mikey with him." 

"Kobra left awhile ago." Ray said. Gerard narrowed his eyes. 

"I swear if they're doing some dumb shit like setting off fireworks in the middle of the desert again-" the girl crashed against the wall and fell on her knees. Gerard comforted her while she cried, tears leaving streaks on her dusty face. 

"I don't think we have to worry about the fireworks." Frank said slowly. "They're probably just fucking." 

Gerard glared fiercely at him and covered the motorbaby's ears as Brendon and Ray burst into uncontrollable laughter. A few minutes later, the rumbling sound of a motor filled the diner, and Frank craned his neck to see the skinny silhouette of the weed dealer pull up outside. 

"Weed dealer's here." Ray commented tonelessly, returning to his sewing. 

Brendon let him in, and he stood nervously in the corner, lanky and awkward in a way that reminded Frank of Mikey. 

"I'm Fun Ghoul." Frank offered, raising his hand in greeting. Mad Hatter relaxed slightly. 

"I sold you apples." he remembered, gesturing between Frank and Gerard. Frank nodded slowly, resisting the urge to say something sarcastic back. The guy was obviously nervous. Or just shy. 

"Brendon?" Frank heard Mad Hatter whisper. Brendon leaned his head towards him in a sweet, gentle way Frank hadn't seen him act with anyone else. A few minutes later, Brendon was leading Mad Hatter away from the diner, into the radio station. 

"Am I the only one who's a little concerned about his name?" Gerard asked once they had left. 

"Yeah, like, did he name _himself_ that? Or did he earn that name? And which is more concerning?" Frank added. Ray shook his head. 

"It's just a name." he told them. Frank scratched his head, deciding it wasn't worth it to argue. 

"Baby, do you want to hang out with Jet for awhile while I check on Ghoul's bandages?" Gerard asked gently, giving her a bright smile with his freaky little teeth. The girl kissed his cheek and nodded before scrambling into Jet's lap and completely preventing him from resuming his task. Frank's heart swelled at the entire interaction, so much he was afraid it would burst. 

"Ghoul?" Gerard waved a hand in front of his face, and Frank jumped up, following him to the other room. 

"How's it been feeling?" Gerard was rummaging through the first aid box as Frank stripped off his shirt. For some reason, a routine had developed, and Gerard was the only person changing Frank's bandages on a regular basis. Frank didn't mind. He looked forward to their one on one interactions that dependably included Gerard's hands on Frank's bare back. 

"Better." Frank answered truthfully, flashing him a grateful smile. He was convinced Gerard would make a good nurse in another life. 

"You're still in pain, though." Gerard frowned, unwilling to accept his gratitude. Frank rolled his eyes. 

"It's more like discomfort. I'm ready to fight again, too." he tried. He had been trying to get back out there for days, but everyone, even Brendon, who he could usually get on his side, agreed it was a bad idea. 

"Nope." Gerard said simply, and that was the end of it. Frank wished Gerard would get a cold or something so he could coddle him like a newborn baby. Then he'd see how it felt. 

"At least let me drive." Frank begged. He hated not pulling his weight. If he wasn't helping fight, what was stopping the group from throwing him out to the vampires? Not that they'd do that, but still. Frank had trust issues, kind of. 

"Don't think your feet could reach the gas." Gerard said seriously. Frank smacked his shoulder. 

"Shut the fuck _up_." he whined. Gerard laughed, weakly deflecting his hits. 

"Stop moving." he said, grabbing Frank's shoulders to hold him still. He quickly cleaned his cut and changed the bandage, and the pain was so minimal that Frank was almost more turned on than anything at this point. It's not like everyone had a hot guy nursing them back to health with his own two hands. 

"All done." Gerard's hands slid off his back, and Frank almost visibly pouted at the loss. 

"That was fast." 

"I told you, you're healing. It's easier now." Gerard flopped onto his stomach and pulled a comic book and a red lollipop out of his back pocket. Frank giggled at his childish friend, but lay down next to him, wincing slightly as his back stretched. 

They read quietly for awhile, Frank flipping the thin pages for the both of them, and Gerard making soft pops with his mouth every few seconds as he sucked on the candy. 

"The lollipop matches your hair." Frank noted, glancing down at his friend's bright red lips. 

"The flavor is called Party Poison." Gerard joked, flicking his tongue out to lick the lollipop. Frank gulped. He had to change the subject to anything, anything but Gerard's mouth. 

"Are Pete and your brother actually fucking?" he blurted out. Gerard gagged. 

"First of all, _gross_." he said, with as much emotion as possible. "Second of all- probably not. They're soft with each other, yeah, but it's platonic. I think." Gerard frowned, like he was suddenly questioning his entire outlook. 

"Not much romance out here." Frank commented. 

"It's too hot for romance." Gerard said, flipping another page in the comic book. Frank settled back down next to him quietly, admiring Gerard's hands more than the comic art.

"Remember my partner I told you about?" Frank asked. Gerard nodded. 

"We were in love, kind of." 

"Yeah?" 

"It's stupid, but I was going to ask her to marry me." Frank scoffed bitterly. Gerard furrowed his eyebrows. 

"Marriage?" he asked, like he was testing the word out in his mouth. 

"Yeah, I don't know. As a symbolic thing. It's a sham, though, anyway. Love." Frank told him emphatically. 

"Not all love." Gerard closed the comic book and turned to face Frank. "I love Mikey. And the motorbaby, and Jet and Pete and Pony and you." his eyes softened as he spoke. Frank blushed deeply, and pushed his forehead in Gerard's shoulder, hiding his face.

"I love you guys too." he mumbled into his neck, so quietly he wasn't sure Gerard even heard him. His heart pounded in his ears. _And you_


	6. Chapter 6

Mad Hatter was only supposed to be stopping by to visit Brendon, but one day his motorbike was parked in front of the diner, and the next day there was a spot for it in the garage. Nobody really knew how it happened, but nobody complained about the sudden abundance of weed and almost-fresh produce, either. 

"This way," Gerard grunted, hauling a crate of wilted corn onto a shelf, "we won't get scurvy." 

"What's scurvy?" The girl asked curiously, waiting until he looked away to take a huge bite out of a slice of watermelon. Frank didn't have the heart to take it away from her, even though it was the last of the fruit they had that week. 

"It's what pirates would get when they didn't get enough vitamin C." Ray told her, swooping in to bite out of her watermelon. She giggled and pushed him away, sticky fingers getting caught in his curls. 

"Are we pirates?" she asked. Ray nodded solemnly. 

"Arrrg." Frank added for effect. Gerard shoved him. 

"Help load these crates, you lazy pirate." he said. Frank stood on his toes. 

"I'm too short to reach the shelves." he said sadly. Gerard laughed. 

"You are not. I saw you taking a tomato from the top shelf last night." he pointed at him. Frank smiled sheepishly and pushed a half-full crate of cucumbers onto a shelf. 

The diner door banged open, and Frank waited for the sound of roller skates on tile to indicate Brendon's dramatic arrival. He was the only one who opened the door like that. They never came. A split second later, there was a noise louder than a gunshot, and the shelf they had been loading cracked and landed in slow motion on Gerard's head. Frank couldn't tell if he was yelling; his ears were ringing too loudly. Draculoids were in the diner, filing in, more and more at a time. 

Frank watched in a daze as Ray lifted Gerard off the ground and to safety. His forehead was steadily pumping out an unsafe amount of blood. The girl hid behind Mikey, and he got five shots in before he realized there were hundreds of draculoids- more than they'd ever seen in one place. Mikey grabbed the girl's hand and ran with her, out the back door. Frank finally unfroze when Ray's voice broke through his consciousness and he gestured vigorously at the door Mikey had just disappeared through. 

Frank bolted. Ray and Gerard were right behind him, he knew. He blasted a group of the enemy, not noticing he had scraped his face until blood dripped into his mouth. 

"FRANK, MIKEY, COME ON." Pete was in Gerard's car, yelling. Frank had forgotten about Pete. Ray was there, too. A tail light shattered, and Frank swung his leg onto Mad Hatter's motorbike. Mikey and the girl were a little ahead of him on Mikey's motorcycle. He rode, as fast as he could, jolting over sharp rocks and plants, and all he could hear was a sharp metallic ringing and all he could see was the small dot that was Mikey and the girl, and all he could taste was blood and dust. Dust, again. 

When Frank caught up to Mikey and the girl, they were stopped next to the trashed ruins of an old camping sight. Mikey was hunched in the sand, streaked with dirt and blood, the girl curled in next to him. Frank's motor alerted them of his arrival. 

"Frank, holy fuck-" Mikey's eyes widened, and Frank could see tears in them. 

"Mikey-" Frank choked out. His throat didn't let him get past that; he doubled over, coughing. He really needed to stop smoking. 

"Thought you were with everyone else." Mikey said, as Frank sat down next to the girl and squeezed her hand. She gripped his arm shakily. 

"They were behind me. Don't know where they are now, I couldn't slow down. I was being shot at, Mikey." 

"I know- hey. It's okay." Mikey sounded like he was trying to convince himself. 

"We've gotta find them." Frank said. His words were empty. The desert was too big. They were lost. 

"We will." Mikey said firmly. "Gee has to be behind us. He'd never go anywhere without me, or the kid." 

"Your brother, he- Mikey, I saw him in the car. He wasn't moving." Frank's voice broke. Mikey shook his head. 

"He was just knocked out." he said confidently. Frank looked down. 

"I hope so." he whispered. 

The girl fell asleep with her head in Mikey's lap and her legs curled up next to Frank, but neither Frank nor Mikey closed their eyes for more than half a second until the sun began to rise. 

"We should check the diner." Frank said, hitting the dented can of power pup he found in one of the trailers on a sharp rock. 

"I told you, too dangerous. No fuckin' way." Mikey said. The girl was still asleep on his lap, and the early sun was turning her face gold and pink, and Frank almost wanted to believe everything was okay. 

"What if they're there, waiting for us? Jesus, Kobra, what other choice do we have?" Frank smashed the can again, angrier this time. 

"What if they're not the ones waiting for us?" Mikey responded, yanking the can out of Frank's hands and cracking it open with his pocket knife. Frank scowled. 

"Y'had that knife the whole time, asshole?" he snapped. Mikey almost smiled.

"Anyways, we should be focused on finding water. Especially for her." Mikey said, dumping some of the food into his mouth before passing it to Frank. 

"There's water _at the diner_." Frank argued. 

"Go for it, then. Turn into a fucking vampire, see if I care." Mikey threw up his hands in frustration. Frank glared at him. 

"You're not as nice as your brother." he commented. Mikey rolled his eyes. 

"Sorry I don't have a hard on for you, Ghoul-" 

"What?" 

"Never mind. Go see if this campsite still has running water, I'm gonna wake up the motorbaby." 

Frank shoved a last bite of food into his mouth before holstering his gun and walking off to more thoroughly explore the campsite they'd stopped at. He found more power pup, decades- old trail mix, and a horrifyingly dirty restroom with running water. He gulped water from the crusty faucet until his stomach felt like it was going to burst, and filled up a discarded beer bottle with water for Mikey and the girl. 

"Morning, Baby." Frank ruffled her hair from behind and flashed her a grin. She smiled back, shielding her eyes from the sun. 

"Drink up." he passed her the beer bottle, and tossed Mikey the other cans of food and bag of trail mix. 

"Gross. How old is this?" Mikey frowned, sniffing the trail mix. Frank reached in and popped a raisin into his mouth. 

"Only a few hundred years, hopefully." he said. Mikey gaped at him. 

"You're worse than Party." he realized. 

"Whoa- I'd never eat a bug." Frank said defensively. 

"Are bugs vegetarian?" the girl asked, grabbing a peanut from the bag when Mikey wasn't looking. 

"Nope." Frank told her. She nodded thoughtfully. 

The rest of the day was waiting. And arguing. Mikey wouldn't go back to the diner, and Frank knew he was probably right, but he hated just sitting there. They didn't even know if their friends were alive. 

They didn't go back the next day, either. Mikey found more food, and they moved their bikes into the shade next to one of the broken-down trailers. The day after that, Frank fixed up the fire pit, and the girl trapped a lizard in a bottle. Frank made her release it, but named it Joey before they let it go on a warm rock. The next day, Mikey kicked a nest of spiders out of the bathroom so Frank would be able to go in and actually get water to drink. 

The girl asked about the rest of their group, and Frank's heart broke when he had to tell her that he didn't know where they were, or when they'd see them again. 

"I don't think they're coming, Ghoul." Mikey said one night, after the girl had fallen asleep. Frank looked at him. Mikey looked scared, and young- younger than he had ever looked. Frank realized he didn't even know his real age. 

"I know, Kobra." he said softly.

"This is the longest I've ever been apart from Gerard." Mikey said, frowning in the way people do when they're trying not to cry.

"I can eat a bug, if you really miss him." Frank offered, grinning. 

"You're vegetarian." Mikey sniffled. Frank sighed. 

"Yeah, well." he didn't have anything comforting to say. He fucking missed Gerard, too. Hopefully not in the same way Mikey did


	7. Chapter 7

The girl was growing up fast, and Mikey and Frank were the only ones there to see it. She was taller, and cursed sometimes when Mikey wasn't listening. 

One day, she was ambushed by a pair of draculoids while Frank was asleep and Mikey was around back trying to fuse the wires together on his bike to make it work without gas, and she picked up Frank's blaster and shot them both in the head. 

They decided shortly after that to teach her how to use a gun. 

"Gee'd hate this." Mikey said, after a few hours of shooting wildly at flies and cactuses with her. Frank winced at Gerard's name. It'd been weeks- months, maybe, and Frank had realized how fucking in love he was. Every other thought he had was of Gerard- and his brain flip flopped between thoughts of Gerard's bloody corpse abandoned somewhere in the desert to thoughts of sucking him off in a matter of seconds. It was painful, and exhausting, and Frank hated it, but his brain wouldn't leave him alone. 

"He didn't want her using a gun until she's at least double digits." Mikey continued. Frank shrugged. 

"Probably didn't want dracs attacking her, either." he said drily. 

"At least until she's double digits." Mikey joked. Frank barked out a surprised laugh. They didn't joke that much, anymore, so he forgot how funny Mikey could be. 

"Kobra- I was thinking. What if you tried fixing up that car radio up there? See if we get any waves out here, maybe Pete's still broadcasting." Frank said. It was a huge stretch- Pete might not even still be alive- but he needed something to hold on to. And he was getting tired of hearing Mikey complain about his fingers getting singed by the motorcycle wires. 

"That's a good idea." Mikey said, almost excited. He lay back on his hands. "Wake me up in a few hours, I'll get started."

Frank let Mikey get a full night of sleep, despite what he asked him to do. The kid hadn't slept more than three consecutive hours since they left the diner, and he needed it desperately. When he woke up, he threw a pebble half-heartedly at Frank for letting him sleep so long, and started his work on the burnt-out radio in the front of the trailer. 

"I think I need more practice with the blaster." the girl said, lifting herself onto the rock Frank was resting on and pulling the gun from his belt. 

"Hmm. I disagree." Frank snatched the gun away from her. "It's not a toy, y'know." 

"Why is it so fun, then?" she asked. Frank scratched his head. 

"You make some good points. I'll get back to you on that." 

Mikey poked his head out of the trailer. 

"Frank?" he said breathlessly, gesturing at him to come into the trailer. "I got it." 

Frank followed him in, holding his breath. 

" _...here with Jet Star, Party Poison, and Mad Hatter, watching that big ball of radiation we call the sun set fire to the East. Keep your eyes on the skies and your boots on the ground, Killjoys. This one goes out to everyone we've lost."_ Pete's voice cracked out and Spirit in the Sky filled the trailer. Frank and Mikey stared at the radio in shock. Frank's mind was screaming at him. _GerardIsAliveGerardIsAliveGerardIsAlive-_

"They're alive." Mikey choked out, finally. 

"Not everyone." Frank said. Brendon. Pete hadn't said anything about Brendon. 

"Is Pony okay?" the girl asked. Frank jumped. He hadn't even realized she'd followed him inside. 

"I don't know, kid." he answered honestly. 

"We can find out." Mikey said, eyes bright for the first time since they were separated. 

"What? Kobra, how-" 

"Pete was giving us clues- the sun setting in the East, that tells us where they are!" Mikey said excitedly, stuffing cans of food into his jacket pockets. Frank frowned. 

"Are you sure-"

"Yes, I'm sure, Ghoul, goddamit. I know where they are. It's a code. From when me and Gee were kids. I'll explain on the way there." he tossed Frank the keys to Mad Hatter's bike. 

"We can't ride these without gas." Frank reminded him. Mikey smirked. 

"Fixed them a week ago. Just didn't have anywhere to go." 

Frank threw back his head, laughing. He felt dizzy and giddy and relieved and excited and _hopeful._

_Gerard is alive_.

The bikes ran fine without gas- a little loud, and the brakes didn't work quite right, but Frank only crashed once, and Mikey even let the girl steer for a few minutes on an empty stretch of dirt. After all, she was growing up. Mikey told Frank how him and Gerard had made up a stupid code when they were kids, and had a meeting place for if they were ever separated- one Mikey forgot about until Pete reminded him as Dr. Death Defying. 

"We're there." Mikey announced suddenly, a few hours after sunset. Frank sputtered to an unsteady stop. 

"What, here? Kobra, we're in the middle of buttfuck nowhere." 

"It's underground, dickhole." Mikey hissed, kicking sand at Frank. Frank raised an eyebrow. _Underground lair? Seriously?_

"How do we get in?" Frank scanned the ground for any sign of a trapdoor or anything besides rocks and patches of dead grass. 

"Uhh..." Mikey climbed off the bike, "I remember it was here somewhere. Gee must've covered it pretty good." he said. Frank sighed heavily. 

"What good is a secret underground hideout if it's so secret we don't even know where it is?" he asked. Mikey bent his legs and stretched out in the sand. 

"We can wait for them to come up." he said. Frank hesitated, then sat down next to Mikey. The girl lay down next to him, propping her feet up on the bike. They forgot to decide who was going to keep watch, and fell asleep in a protective tangle of boots and the smell of burnt rubber


	8. Chapter 8

"Your hair got long." a familiar voice, not Mikey or the girl's. 

Frank didn't open his eyes. The sun was too bright, he didn't want to blind himself. 

"Seriously? You have a fucking eyepatch and you want to talk about my hair?" Mikey's voice. Frank cracked open one eye, shielding it with his hand. Ray and Mikey were stood above him, hands on each other's shoulders, smiling at each other like they'd never seen anything better. 

"Jet?" Frank croaked out, shoving himself off the ground. Ray grinned, holding out a hand to help him up. Frank made a mental note to ask him about the eye patch later. 

"Fuckin' missed you, man." Ray said after pulling him into a tight hug. He bent down and shook the girl's shoulder gently. 

"Baby... wake up." 

She leapt into his arms before her eyes were even all the way open, hugging him tightly. 

"I learned how to use a gun." she told him, and Frank shushed her over Ray's shoulder. 

"You're growing up, huh, Baby." Ray smiled at her, his eyes shining with the beginning of tears. She nodded proudly.

"Maybe I'll be taller than you soon." she teased. Ray grinned. 

"Maybe." he agreed. He turned to Mikey and Frank. 

"Guess Pete's message worked, huh? Party said it'd work, but it took so long we weren't sure any of you were still alive." 

"Can't get rid of us that easily." Frank cuffed him on the shoulder. He hadn't realized how much he missed Ray, but everything was coming back and he wanted to hug his friend and never let go. 

"Where's everyone else?" Mikey asked. _Where's Gerard,_ Frank knew he meant. 

"Right, everyone's underground. C'mon, let's surprise 'em." Ray lifted the girl onto his back and led them to a big, metal hatch hidden by a rock.

"I can't believe Gee found this place," Mikey said in awe, stepping down the ladder into the hole, "after all this time." 

"It took awhile. He was in and out of consciousness for almost two days after the draculoid attack." Ray explained. "And when he came to, he wasn't exactly happy to hear we were separated from his brother, his kid, and his- uh, Frank." he cleared his throat. Frank raised an eyebrow in the dark. 

"He's okay now, though?" Mikey asked anxiously. Frank's feet landed on solid ground, and Ray flicked on a flashlight. 

"His forehead's okay, yeah. Party, though, he- he's pretty fucked up, man." he said sadly. Frank's heart dropped. 

"Pete's not doing too well, either. He thought he lost you, Kobra, and then Brendon was ghosted, and-"

"Hold on," Frank stopped walking, resting his hand against the cool, earthy wall. His head was spinning. "Brendon?" he managed to get out. Ray shook his head. 

"He's gone. I'm sorry." 

"Fuck." Frank whispered. "How-"

"How everyone else goes, man. Dracs. He went out in a blaze of glory, though, I promise. Killed a couple Masks with his fuckin' skates, I think." 

"Pony's dead?" the girl asked, speaking up for the first time since they went underground. Ray hugged her again. 

"No one ever really dies, sweetie. Not in the desert." he told her. She nodded, wiping her tears away quickly. She never used to hide her tears. She really was growing up. The thought made Frank's head hurt. 

"Here we are." Ray pulled on the rusty handle of a heavy door until it creaked open. 

"Used to be a military bunker or some shit." Mikey explained to Frank's apparently confused expression. 

"Party? Pete? Ryan?" Ray yelled, stepping into the bunker. 

"The fuck, Jet, you're back early." Gerard's voice floated out from another room, and Frank felt like he was finally getting a hit of nicotine after not smoking for one hundred years. He wanted to pin him down and kiss him until neither of them could breathe and make up for the months he hadn't even got to look at him. 

"Yeah, Party, just- come down here." Ray's voice was high pitched and excited. 

"You're acting fucking weird, Jet, what is-" Gerard froze. 

"Mikey?" he whispered. His eyes fell on Frank, and then the girl. "Holy shit." he laughed disbelievingly. His eyes filled with tears, and he swept Mikey into probably the longest hug anyone had ever had the displeasure of experiencing. 

"Getoff me." Mikey mumbled, some time into the third minute of the hug. Gerard shook his head furiously. 

"I thought you were _dead_ , asshole." he said, pulling away regardless. "I love you, little brother." he said, lifting up his shirt to wipe his tear- streaked face. Mikey blushed. 

"Loveyoutoo." he said quietly. Gerard hugged the girl next, lifting her in the air and covering her face with more kisses than she had freckles. She kissed his nose and told him it had been exactly fifty-six days since they last saw each other, and she drew him a picture every day. Frank had to bite his lip to keep from crying when she pulled out a neatly wrapped stack of what looked like exactly fifty-six drawings. She also held out a collection of cool rocks for Ray, including a few things that were definitely not rocks. 

"Alright, Baby, I have t'hug Ghoul now. Hop down." Gerard said. Frank waited until she was out of his arms before throwing himself at Gerard, succeeding in making him stumble back a few steps, breathing in the hot, grimy smell of his leather jacket and the smoke-soaked skin on his neck. He twisted his hand into Gerard's shirt, never wanting to let go. 

"Really thought you were dead." Frank spoke into his friend's chest. 

"I was." Gerard whispered, so quiet Frank would've thought he imagined it if he didn't hear what he said next. "I lost everything I was living for." 

Frank pulled away reluctantly when Pete and Mad Hatter (Ray had called him Ryan earlier) walked in, and Pete hugged Mikey almost as dramatically as Gerard had. 

"Looks like you have some competition." Frank told Gerard solemnly. Ryan, the weird, shy, skinny weed dealer, looked horrible. Skinnier than before, if that was possible, with dark circles wider than his wrists under his eyes. Frank wondered briefly if he had been in love with Brendon. 

"You finally got our message." Pete breathed, hugging the girl and Frank warmly before returning to Mikey's side. 

"Kobra fixed up a radio we found." Frank explained proudly, nudging Mikey. 

"Wasn't hard." Mikey shrugged, trying unsuccessfully to wiggle away from Pete's firm grip on his arm. 

"That's my little brother!" Gerard beamed at him, and Mikey flashed a look at Frank that clearly said _I immediately regret this. Blink twice if you want to go back to the campsite and never have to express emotion again._

Frank just grinned at him and leaned heavily into Gerard's shoulder. 

"There's someone else you should meet." Pete announced, exchanging a look with Ryan. He nodded knowingly, and disappeared through the doorway they'd come through. He returned seconds later, followed by the single mangiest dog Frank had ever seen. 

"Meet Show Pony." Ryan said, and Frank could see the smallest hint of a smile- if he squinted. The girl rushed the dog immediately, rubbing its tattered ears and kissing its nose. It licked her face. 

"Oh, my God." Mikey laughed, scratching its ears. 

"Brendon would love a dog named after him." Pete explained, his voice cracking a little. Brendon was his best friend. Frank thought they were together when he first met them, but they were too much alike to ever be in a relationship. 

"We tried to get her on roller skates." Ryan joked, glancing at Pete. 

"Wrong size." Pete explained sadly. Frank bit back a laugh and bent down to scratch Show Pony's belly. 

"Where'd you find her?" Frank asked curiously. He hadn't seen dogs in the desert for ages. 

"She just showed up one day. Wouldn't leave us alone." Ryan said affectionately. 

"Sounds like you, Ghoul." Gerard teased, poking Frank in the side. 

"Asshole." Frank stuck out his tongue. He met Mikey's gaze again, and he could feel his shared relief at being reunited with everyone


	9. Chapter 9

The bunker actually had beds- real beds, with mattresses and blankets- and Frank collapsed into a bunk as soon as everyone was done catching up. A few hours after he fell asleep, he felt something tickling his ankle, and kicked it off, assuming it was a scorpion or a fly or-

"Ghoul." someone whispered. Frank opened his eyes blearily, trying to make out the dark shape at the end of his bunk. When his eyes adjusted, the first thing he saw was neon red hair. 

"Party? What time is it?" Frank rubbed his eyes and sat up, pulling on a shirt. 

"Like- midnight, I dunno. C'mon." Gerard held out a hand and pulled Frank out of bed. He didn't let go when Frank was upright, and Frank didn't try to make him. 

"Is everything okay?" Frank asked, shoving his feet into boots. Gerard nodded, smiling. 

"Yeah. Stop asking questions, okay?" he said fondly. Frank opened his mouth, then shut it firmly. Gerard led him to the ladder, where Frank reluctantly let go of his hand so they could climb it and push the trapdoor open to make way to the dry heat of the desert. The sky was deep, deep blue and splattered with stars. Gerard shut the trapdoor behind him and sat down in the sand, holding his hand out again. Frank smiled widely and sat down next to him, sliding his hand into Gerard's. 

"The sky looks fucking awesome." Frank breathed. Gerard's fingers twitched in his hand. 

"I never got to say thank you." Gerard said. Frank didn't take his eyes off the stars. 

"For what?"

"You kept my little brother and my kid safe. You- they mean everything to me, Frank." Gerard's voice was breaking a little. 

"I know." Frank whispered. Gerard shook his head. 

"I don't think you do. I couldn't breathe when we were separated. All three of you. You're my life. Mikey, the girl- but you too, Frank. I-" 

Frank couldn't take it anymore. He had waited too long. He tugged the back of Gerard's neck down and met his lips with his own, briefly and softly. Gerard pulled away, blinking. His eyes were wide and filled with stars. 

"Was that okay?" Frank asked breathlessly. His pulse was racing and his lips were warmer than the rest of his body, warm and buzzing with possibility. 

"No." Gerard frowned, and Frank's pulse quickened to alarming speeds, his hand slipping off the back of Gerard's neck. _He's straight? He just doesn't like me. Fuck, he was about to say how I'm like a brother to him, oh GOD-_

"Too short." Gerard finished, grabbing Frank's hand and putting it back on his own neck. Frank bit back a grin. _Fucker_. He lunged up again, teeth colliding with Gerard's closed mouth. Too eager. He could feel Gerard's smile against his mouth as he moved his lips, kissing him slowly, sucking gently on his bottom lip until the smile was effectively wiped off his face. He slipped his tongue into Gerard's mouth, sliding and twisting it with Gerard's. A nip at his bottom lip elicited an obscene moan from his friend's mouth, and Frank pulled back to look at him. 

"Fuck, Gee, shit, you have no idea how long-" he broke off, panting. Gerard was gorgeous; wide, blown eyes, hair hanging down in his face, spit- slick lips. Infinitely better than any fantasy Frank had come up with in their time apart. He moved closer to Gerard and climbed into his lap, straddling him. He kissed him again, fast and rough and filthy, dragged his mouth away from Gerard's so he could suck and lick and bite down his jaw and neck, leaving bruises and slow-fading red marks. 

Gerard's mouth being free also meant he was louder, and Frank was going fucking insane listening to his moans and feeling Gerard's fingers gripping his ass and sliding up under his shirt. Sand shifted under his knees, and Frank was reminded where he was- the middle of the fucking desert, making out with Party Poison, fearless leader of the killjoys. _Fuckin' go figure._

Gerard grabbed Frank's chin and dragged his lips back up to meet his own, and kissed him until Frank felt like his lungs were going to implode and his knees were numb. He was dizzy and drunk on the feeling of human intimacy, tangling his fingers in Gerard's greasy hair and anchoring him there, on earth with Frank so he didn't float away, or run away, or leave him.

Gerard pulled away momentarily, pressing his forehead to Frank's and breathing heavily. Frank was hard at this point, and he could feel through a few layers that Gerard was, too. 

"I haven't done this in forever." Gerard admitted. 

"Could've fooled me." Frank breathed, grinding down in Gerard's lap experimentally. Gerard whined and dropped his head onto Frank's shoulder, biting at his neck to stifle his moans. Frank tried to keep up a steady rhythm of rocking against Gerard's cock but it dissolved into messy writhing, both of them desperate for friction. 

"Fuck, Frankie, I'm gonna-" 

Frank cut him off with an open-mouthed kiss, feeling himself get closer and closer to the edge, overwhelmed with sensation. He fucking _felt_ Gerard come, and his last thought before coming so hard his vision went white was _this is my only pair of pants._

Frank climbed shakily off Gerard's lap, kissing his neck and lips gently before melting into a puddle in the sand beside him. The stars blinked down at him as he listened to his own ragged breath slow in time with Gerard's. 

"We should go inside." Gerard suggested, making no move to stand up. Frank murmured his agreement, too boneless and blissed out to form words. 

"I want this, Frankie." Gerard whispered, a few moments later. Frank blinked at him, not registering. 

"You. Us. All of it." he clarified. Frank inhaled shakily. 

"Me too." he breathed, reaching out for Gerard's hand. His friend intertwined their fingers, squeezing softly. Gerard's token red hair was bathed in moonlight, turning it shiny white and brilliant. Gerard's eyelashes cast spiky shadows on his cheeks, and his hands felt like home, and Frank decided he would follow him to the end of the earth.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you if you actually read this whole thing!! i'm sure i'll hate this in a week like i do with all my writing but right now i'm okay with it so i hope you enjoyed!! i'm on twitter @voungveins and tumblr heathnes.tumblr.com if you want to talk about like....... anything. also big shout out to kaylee for editing this for me and being a great friend ily pal. (also i was thinking about making kind of a short one shot type sequel to this maybe set a few months or years in the future that would just be really happy and sweet so lmk if you would read that)


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